Report: Tyronn Lue to attend Cavs-Pelicans as spectator, plans to coach next week

Tyronn Lue will reportedly be at Cavs-Pelicans on Friday, but just to watch.

Twelve days after announcing he’d be taking a leave of absence to address various health issues that have plagued him this season, keeping him from finishing several games, Tyronn Lue plans to rejoin the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night. But he won’t be coaching his team during their matchup against Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans; for now, it seems, he’ll still just be watching.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Lue will attend Friday’s game as a spectator, though “the plan is for him to hopefully ease his way back into a full-time coaching role over the Cavs’ four-game homestand that extends until Thursday.” This will reportedly be the first time he’s addressed the team since stepping aside on March 19.

When Lue, 40, announced that he’d be taking a step back, he described ongoing battles with “chest pains and other troubling symptoms, compounded by a loss of sleep, throughout the year.” Those troubling symptoms, according to Wojnarowski, “including coughing up blood.” Lue said at the time that he planned to “focus on trying to establish a stronger and healthier foundation from which to coach for the rest of the season.” Thanks in part to a renewed focus on improving his diet and getting on a consistent exercise plan, he’s evidently moving closer to be able to return to the Cavs.